Ben Lehner is fascinated by the question of what makes individuals different and the challenge of transforming biology into a quantitative and predictive science. He has made fundamental discoveries about how our genome sequences change (mutate), how these changes combine to alter the properties of molecules and individuals, and the reasons why even genetically identical individuals are not always identical.
Ben has also pioneered the use of comprehensive mutagenesis to understand biological mechanisms and to make quantitative measurements at scale. This has included understanding how mutations cause pathological protein aggregation and the first comprehensive maps of long range 'allosteric' communication in proteins.
Ben trained in Cambridge but started his lab at the newly founded EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Programme in Barcelona, where he subsequently became Coordinator and co-founded the Barcelona Collaboratorium for Modelling and Predictive Biology. In 2022 he returned to the UK to join the Wellcome Sanger Institute. His research has been recognised by numerous prizes, including the Bettencourt Prize, the Eppendorf Award and the EMBO Gold Medal.
Professional position
- Senior Group Leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge
- Coordinator and ICREA Professor, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)
Subject groups
- Biochemistry and molecular cell biology
Biochemistry and molecular biology, Biophysics and structural biology
- Microbiology, immunology and developmental biology
Genetics (excluding population genetics)
- Organismal biology, evolution and ecology
Biological modelling, Evolution
